Patrick Swayze dead at 57

Heartthrob, beefcake, musician, serious actor, producer, b-list also ran... Patrick Swayze's career as an entertainer rad a wider gamut than most of his peers. In movies like Dirty Dancing, Roadhouse, and Ghost, Swayze was the avatar of macho finery.

But unlike other leading men like Gibson and Willis, Swayze always had a soft touch, an almost feminine grace and guile to his performances, which earned him the affections of millions of female fans.

Swayze's name is attached to some of the most memorable lines and scenes in blockbuster film making. The pottery scene with Demi Moore in Ghost; his quip that "nobody puts baby in a corner" in Dirty Dancing; his psycho-crazed sky dive with Point Break co-star Keanu Reeves; his veiled padarasty in the cult hit Donnie Darko; Swayze rarely played the same character twice, exhibiting a breadth and daring few expected from his beginnings in films like Red Heat.

In 2008, Swayze's health began to visibly deteriorate, and in January of 2008, he announced his diagnosis of pancreatic cancer. The disease, because it can advance to late stages without producing symptoms and is aggresively quick to metastisize, left Swayze with a grim prognosis-- he was given just weeks to live in March of 2008.

But months later, Swayze appeared healthier. He had undergone intensive chemotherapy, and was regaining weight.

His health slipped again in January of 2009, when Swayze reacted poorly to a course of chemotherapy and contracted pneumonia.